Months after tsunamis, Thais need emotional support, bishop says

Published: 2005-09-21

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Some nine months after a series of deadly tsunamis hit Indian Ocean nations, survivors in Thailand are still in need of emotional and spiritual support more than they are of material aid, said a Thai bishop. So many survivors of the Dec. 26 disaster lost family members, loved ones and livelihoods that "they tell us 'what we need now is psychological help more than money and materials,'" said Bishop Joseph Prathan Sridarunsil of Surat Thani. "Nine months after the tsunami, groups who helped and brought relief, they came and then went away. But we (the church) are still there. We pitched our camp and we are still with the people," he told Catholic News Service Sept. 21. Bishop Sridarunsil was part of a Sept. 20-21 meeting organized by Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based confederation of Catholic relief and development agencies. The meeting brought together scores of Caritas officials from countries that banded together to help those most devastated by the tsunamis.

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